The day the iPhone SDK was unveiled, my head was filled with development ideas. I was not the only one with ambitions. Everywhere I look I see new developers (new in the never-before-programmed sense) who downloaded the SDK and have begun their work.

When I began programming for the Mac, I spent months reading books and online tutorials, not to mention the guides and class documentation included with Xcode. By the time I started writing my first Mac application meant for the public, I had composed thousands of lines of code for the platform. While I still consider myself new to programming, I do consider myself competent. Many of the developers posting to online support forums are using their iPhone applications as learning grounds for programming. The problem rises from the intent to publish these applications. In my opinion, development should be approached with both caution and care.

I suspect that most who have published an application understands the importance of an NDA. As a result, well known authors and programmers are withholding advice about iPhone development and those without the experience and respect are providing it.

To any new programmers:

Please take the time to read and learn before starting your first application. As you should not trust everything you read on wikipedia, be cautious about the advice you get on forums. Your work has an effect on the success of the platform. If resources cannot be found now, wait until they are available before spending your time in Xcode. There is plenty of published knowledge about Mac development that can be converted into iPhone experience. If you have time to spare until June, pick up a copy of Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X.